KARACHI, Sept 6: Academicians speaking at a seminar on Thursday called for citizens to utilise their right to information and use it for dialogues among themselves to help counter extremism in society.

The seminar titled “Impact of religious extremism in Pakistani society” was organised by Karachi University Teachers’ Society (Kuts) and the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.

Prof Dr Tauseef Ahmed Khan, the chairperson of mass communication department at Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology (Fuuast), said that the roots of extremism grew within the structure of the state. “Unfortunately our state has always supported one or the other form of extremism and now its consequences have spilled over to the society as well.”

He said that a state can only be modern if it incorporated democratic ideals and the will of the people. “If the government does not have the people’s mandate then it will not work for the citizens. State institutions will do their job if only the people keep a check on them.”

He recalled that the biggest political parties in Pakistan had used the right to information in their election campaigns in 1988. “The irony is that the constitution also has clauses that kill the right to free speech,” he said.

Dr Khan concluded that if we really knew what had happened on Sept 6 instead of what was told to us we wouldn’t celebrate Defence Day. “The right to know was killed on September 6,” he added.

The next speaker was Prof Dr Riaz Ahmed, the dean of social sciences at Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology. He told the audience that he belonged to Jacobabad.

He said that he studied in a co-education school and had a cinema near his house where he used to go watch films with his family.

“But now the cinema is a seminary,” he said. “Such things happen when the state becomes aides of extremist elements within the society.”

Dr Ahmed said that mushrooming extremism in Pakistan should not come as a surprise especially after what happened in Bangladesh. He said that the reservations, which people feared to talk about now, were addressed to in detail in the sessions of the first constituent assembly of Pakistan.

Prof Dr Mutahir Ahmed, a professor at the international relations department and Kuts president, said that the mindset created by the history books in schools were a great challenge for him. “Even if we get students to be open about dialogue it’s enough for us,” he said. “The truth is different for everyone but we have to carry all of them together to progress.”

Journalist Ghazi Salahuddin referred to a survey conducted by Pew Research Centre indicating the level of extremism in Pakistani society.

“Our defence has been infiltrated from the inside and we are fighting for our survival,” he said. “For us, history is veiled.”